Sorry, meant to say this before, but...
HollyGolightly: I don't pray - I'd make a liar of myself if I did - but my thoughts and best wishes are with you.
Have I 'lost my mind'...yes and no. I had a spell when I was about 16-17 where all I felt was disillusionment and rage. I had energy but no direction, and no one seemed to be able to offer any good advice. Life still lay before me, but that wasn't how it seemed. It felt that the best days, my best chances, already lay behind me and naturally, all that unfocused energy became destructive rather than creative/positive. My nephew's going through something similar now and the weird thing is, I have no idea how to help him. I can't remember how it was to feel that way. There was a time when I could, and I wanted to write it all down just in case he needed it - we've always been of a very similar temperament and, like me, he was fine until it came to leaving school and settling on whatever came next - but whenever I tried I found that I couldn't, or didn't want to, think about that period much in case it sucked me in again.
I've mentioned my other, later struggles before, so there's no need for a rehash here. What I will say is that it never felt as if I'd lost my mind. I thought and wondered about if I might have, but then I thought that if I was able to ask the question, it meant I was still 'there'.
As I said over on another thread, and others have said here (most notably
ghost19), just doing simple things is best. It's productive, it's uncomplicated, and it's repetitive, but that's probably why it works. Nothing to worry about but the constant movement of the mop, or brush, or whatever. You won't
want to do it, but stick at it, and don't sweat the small (or big) stuff. It's not trendy to say so, but you don't have to be in control of everything. You can't be, in any case. Your kids, hubby, parent/s (in law), friends, your boss, all have free will. Yes, it'd be great if everyone did everything we wanted, when we wanted, in the way we wanted. Life would be great, right?
But that's not going to happen. It's unrealistic, and in the modern world it's usually the women who are judged to have failed if they're not seen to be in control of all things at all times, especially by other women (many of whom are also stretched close to breaking) even though such a thing is impossible and is also undesirable from the POV of other individuals.
So your kid's room is a mess and they've not tidied it up...so what? No one's going to die. There's not going to be an inspection and a fine given out. It'll get done. Same goes for everything. So the bins haven't gone out by 9 ready for the next morning as they usually do. And? So long as they do go out, it's all good.
The little things and the big things that you can't directly control...let them go. Trust in others to meet their responsibilities. You're not Superwoman (you're just *a* super woman. See that tongue? Pure silver, that is...I don't think!
). No one is, just as no man is Superman (and, largely, we don't try to be). So...